At the Surface Engineering Institute active research and development work has been conducted in the areas of PVD/CVD technology, thermal spraying and brazing as well as modelling and simulation of these processes.For each of these individual technologies fundamental knowledge is acquired in the field of materials science and applied in the area of materials engineering from the project idea to complete system solutions to pilot production. This work is always conducted in close cooperation with industrial corporations. In addition to materials development, process optimisation, procedural and quality assurance, our services include, above all, the development and application of coating and brazing systems. The spectrum of materials processed includes everything from pure metals, metal alloys, intermetallic materials and hard metals to oxide and special ceramics, cermets, hard materials, hard alloys, fibre-reinforced materials and even polymers.

The Institute is comprised of a total of four research and development departments which are divided among both locations: